Acquisition of a Noble Gas Mass Spectrometer for the Oregon State University 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology Laboratory

地球系统科学家越来越多地探索需要精确定时的物理、化学和生物过程的研究前沿。通过对地质年代的精确测量，他们能够将地球地质记录中过去的事件联系起来，并确定过程发生的持续时间和速率。40Ar/39Ar年龄测年技术的应用对于解决热点地球动力学、大规模灾难性火山活动、古环境影响、月球地壳形成和地质时间尺度校准等许多重大科学挑战尤为重要。俄勒冈州立大学海洋与大气科学学院的40Ar/39Ar地球年代学实验室获得了一台最先进的ARGUS VI多收集器惰性气体质谱仪，这大大提高了40Ar/39Ar实验的能力，这些40Ar/39Ar实验的样本非常小，来自海底玄武岩和深海钻探岩心，细粒度的陆源沉积物馏分可以用作研究沉积物运输和气候变化的古代用物。极小的月球撞击熔体和角砾岩碎片，以及来自大型海洋火成岩省的低钾熔岩，以揭示它们的时间演化及其对全球环境的影响。俄勒冈州立大学40Ar/39Ar地质年代学实验室自1977年以来一直在运行，为美国国内外的科学家和学生提供多用户设施。在过去的17年里，有超过75名访客和学生，在过去的3年里有70名合作者，超过175篇出版物，这个由美国国家科学基金会资助的实验室已经成为一个广泛使用的设施，专门研究海洋地壳、海底山、海洋沉积物和大型火成岩省的地质年代学。新的ARGUS VI质谱仪将与现有的MAP 215-50质谱仪一起工作，并将允许本科生、研究生和博士后继续积极参与该实验室，培训他们稀有气体分析技术和使用nsf赞助的ArArCALC软件。

Earth system scientists increasingly explore research frontiers that require precise timing of physical, chemical and biological processes. With the precise and accurate measurement of geological ages they are able to correlate and link past events in the Earth's geological record and determine durations and rates at which processes act. The application of 40Ar/39Ar age dating techniques is especially critical to addressing many of the grand scientific challenges in hotspot geodynamics, large-scale cataclysmic volcanism, paleo-environmental impacts, lunar crust formation and geological time scale calibrations. The acquisition of a state-of-the-art ARGUS VI multi-collector noble gas mass spectrometer to the 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology Laboratory at the College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University is significantly improving the capability to conduct 40Ar/39Ar experiments on very small samples from dredged submarine basalts and deep sea drill cores, fine-grained terrigenous sediment fractions to use as paleoproxies to study sediment transport and climate change, extremely small fragments of lunar impact melts and breccias, and low-potassium lavas from large oceanic igneous provinces in order to unravel their temporal evolution and their world-wide environmental impacts.The Oregon State University 40Ar/39Ar Geochronology Laboratory has been in operation since 1977 and functions as a multi-user facility for both scientists and students, within and outside the United States. With more than 75 visitors and students over the last 17 years, 70 collaborators over the last 3 years, and more than 175 publications, this NSF-sponsored laboratory has established itself as a widely-used facility, specifically focused on the geochronology of ocean crust, seamounts, marine sediments and large igneous provinces. The new ARGUS VI mass spectrometer will operate in tandem with the current MAP 215-50 mass spectrometer and will allow for a continued active participation of undergraduate and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in this laboratory, training them in noble gas analytical techniques and the use of the NSF-sponsored ArArCALC software.